


You'll Never Understand...

by MrzGrumpy



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Persona 5 Spoilers, Persona 5: The Royal, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Self-Esteem Issues, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:47:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28738233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrzGrumpy/pseuds/MrzGrumpy
Summary: P5R SPOILERS!!!Days after the fated car accident, a young girl visits a counsellor per her parents' advice. Wanting to know what her sister felt before falling into a coma, the counsellor grants her wish, accidentally allowing her to live as "Sumire" Yoshizawa
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Persona 5 Protagonist/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Yoshizawa Shinichi & Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. A Wish... Granted?

Kasumi knocked on the door twice, trying to keep herself together.

“Come on in!” The man on the other side yelled out, causing her to slowly open the door. He smiled warmly at her as she made her way to the seat the man gestured her to.

‘I don’t think the doctor will be able to help me with this... This is my own problem-’

“So, you’re Kasumi Yoshizawa, right?” The man asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. “I’m Doctor Maruki. I’ll be your counsellor.” He paused, adjusting his glasses. “First of all, thank you for coming to see me.”

“I guess…” Kasumi said in a defeated manner, keeping her head lowered. “I’m sorry, I’m not really sure what we can discuss about…” She looked up at the doctor again. “I doubt you can even help me with my problem…”

“That’s fine. So, do you want to chat till our time’s up, then?” 

“What is there to chat about, though?” She let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m sorry, I still feel tired…” Kasumi looked down, feeling tears building up in her eyes as she tried her best to hold it back.

“Well, if you don’t want to talk, that’s quite fine. I can’t really force you. Oh, and I’ve got some sweets and some salty snacks there.” He pointed at the basket on his desk. “Feel free to have at them.”

“Um… thanks…” Kasumi looked at the basket but decided not to take anything.

“So… let’s start with… Ah. How about, what’d you eat for lunch yesterday?” 

“...I didn’t eat anything yesterday.” Kasumi said, looking at the doctor with a tired expression.

“Ah…” Maruki looked a bit concerned and quickly hid his expression. “So, do you want to hear what I ate yesterday?”

“Okay… I guess…” Kasumi adjusted the top of her coat, focusing entirely on the doctor.

“So, the other day, a friend of mine gave me a ton of apples. I’ve grown tired of eating them by themselves—yesterday I thought, why not try using them as a meal ingredient?” He chuckled a bit as he adjusted his glasses. “So, I tried making an apple dish for lunch, but that didn’t turn out too hot... What do you think I have ended up making?” He brought his hands together as he waited for an answer.

“Um… I wouldn’t know…” Kasumi looked down as the topic quickly made her lose interest.

“Shrimp in chilli sauce—with apples. You know how sweet-and-sour pork can have pineapple in it? I was going for that, but…”

“I don’t care!” Kasumi shouted out, staring at the doctor. She quickly covered her mouth in shock upon seeing his expression. “S-Sorry… I just…” She paused, unable to find the words.

“It’s quite alright, Yoshizawa-san.” Maruki said, smiling at her. “Is there anything else you want to talk about? Like, what do you usually do in your free time?”

“...Gymnastics.” She said, in a low voice.

“...I see. How’s practice going for you? Has it been rough, lately?”

She shook her head. “It’s… nothing I can’t handle… but I just don’t feel up to it anymore…”

“Sorry to hear that… Do you normally enjoy gymnastics?”

“I do… My…” She paused for a moment, breathing in as her throat was in pain. “...younger sister and I made a promise to each other. We’d compete and win the biggest gymnastics awards in the world, but…” 

Kasumi paused, unable to hold her tears as she looked down. “She… had an accident because of me! I wasn’t able to protect her, and the doctors said she might never wake up again!” Kasumi covered her face with her hand as she sobbed for a bit before continuing. “I-I just wish I could’ve understood how she felt! After what she said to me…!”

It felt like an eternity for Kasumi until she could finally stop crying as she looked at the doctor with teary eyes, wiping them with her free hand. “I-I’m sorry…”

“There’s no need to apologise here. If there’s something you need to get off your chest, please do so.”

“I think I just did…” She let out a painful sigh. “I… want her to wake up again… I would give up everything if it meant she would wake up…” 

“You said you wanted to understand how she felt, right?” 

“..Huh?” Kasumi was surprised not by the question the doctor asked, but how serious asked it. “Yes, I did… What about it, Dr. Maruki..?”

“Maybe I can help you understand how she was feeling… Would that help put your mind at ease a bit?” Once again, he brought his hands together as he awaited her answer.

“I…” She looked at her fingers, fidgeting nervously. “...I think it would... I really want to know…”

“Everyone is capable of understanding each other, Yoshizawa-san.” He adjusted his glasses. “If you put your mind to it and think about why a person acts the way they act, it’s possible.” He paused, smiling a tiny bit at her. “Thought exercises like, ‘Did something happen to them?’ or realisations like ‘They must be sad because of this.’. Those sort of thoughts can lead people to understand the target person in question better.”

“..Oh…” Kasumi looked down. ‘Of course, that was obvious… but I’m an idiot…’ 

“Can you still think about how your sister might have been feeling?”

“I… think so…” Kasumi said, recalling the events of that day as she closed her eyes.

“Why do you think she reacted the way she did?”

“Well... I… think it’s because of how I got the most attention between the two of us… She was most likely jealous…” Kasumi felt tears coming to her eyes once again. ‘How did I not realise it before..!?’ She leaned forward, staring at Maruki with her teary eyes. “Doctor Maruki, I… I think there’s more…”

“If there is more, try to think harder on it… I’m sure you can understand her. Just… believe in yourself.” Maruki said, closing his eyes.

Kasumi leaned back as she closed her eyes to think more on it when a strange sensation overtook her for a moment, causing her to open her eyes. “H-Huh…?”

“How about it. Are you feeling better now?”

“I… think I do, Doctor Maruki... Um.. thank you..” She slightly smiled at her.

Doctor Maruki chuckled a bit. “It’s no big deal at all… Still, it seems like my counselling approach does do some good after all.”

Kasumi looked puzzled for a moment as she touched her eyes, noticing something… odd... She removed the ribbon from her hair and went to put it in her bag. Afterwards, she took a pair of glasses from her pocket and put them on.

“...Yoshizawa-san?” Maruki looked at her, with a bewildered expression.

“Huh…? W-What is it, Doctor?” Kasumi looked at him, confusedly.

“You changed…”

“Oh, um… I-I need glasses to see better.” She awkwardly smiled. “Is there something wrong…?

He adjusted his glasses, covering his eyes partly because of the reflection. “Nothing at all… can I get your full name again, Yoshizawa-san?” He scratched his head, looking at her. “Sorry, I ended up forgetting…”

“O-Oh, it’s okay! It’s Sumire… Sumire Yoshizawa.” She fidgeted a bit. ‘...Huh, i-it feels like I only arrived a minute ago…’

Dr. Maruki seemed shocked for a few moments as he looked at her, but he quickly shook his head before Sumire noticed. “I see… Feel free to drop by again sometime should anything come up. We can even have a chat, like today.”

“Thank you, Doctor Maruki!” She smiled at her. “Then we could pick up where we left off, like…” She paused for a moment, thinking. “..Huh? I have no idea why I said ‘I don’t care when you mentioned cooking… I’m actually good at it…” She looked down for a moment. “My older sister is the one who wouldn’t be too interested in it…”

Doctor Maruki let out a worried sigh as he looked at her.

“..H-Huh? What is it, Doctor Maruki?” She looked back at him, confused.

“Oh, nothing… I’m just glad I was able to help you.” He smiled widely at her. “Good luck with your training.”

“R-Right! I’ll try my best... F-For Kasumi’s sake, and mine!” She smiled at him as she got up. ‘...F-For Kasumi…’ She thought to herself, finding it… weird...

“Oh, it seems like our time is almost up. It was nice talking to you, Yoshizawa-san.”

“L-Likewise, Doctor Maruki! I-I might visit again later!” She got up as she headed to the door as she waved at Doctor Maruki, before leaving through the door again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... hi everyone! This is basically a re-writing of my old fic. I'm keeping the old one to see how far I came ever since I first started writing.
> 
> You can also notice I changed up the ideas a bit to fit the story of what I want to write better.
> 
> Thank you for reading so far! I hope you like this idea better as I did, and I look forward to writing for this as well whenever I can!
> 
> Also, a huge thank you to chriscruise03! He has been really helpful in making this happen!


	2. New Day, New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Sumire' heads back on home, before her parents quickly notice what's seemingly off with her..

‘Why did the Doctor seem weirded out, though…?’ Sumire thought to herself as she was heading home on the train. The train itself wasn’t too crowded, with the absence of the crowd reminding her how she never really had any friends. ‘And w-what was that thing I said about Kasumi…? Ugh… this is all so strange…’ Sumire held her head, feeling a slight surge of pain rush. Her phone buzzed, snapping her out of her thoughts. She shakily pulled out her phone, to check out the message she got.

_Are you heading home, Sumire?_

She stared at the message she received from her father, confused as to why her name on the screen looked slightly blurry, but decided to ultimately ignore it as she typed back a response.

_Yup, I’m on the train, Dad!_

_How did the counselling go?_

_Uh… It was alright. I do want to revisit Dr. Maruki!_

_That’s good to hear, Sumire. I am so proud of you._

‘Again with the blur…’ Sumire thought to herself, choosing to ignore it again and started typing with a smile.

_I think my station is almost coming up. See you soon, Dad! Love you!_

_Love you too, Sumire._

This time, the blur on her name disappeared completely, causing Sumire to shrug.. ‘Must have been my phone glitching…’ Sumire thought to herself, putting away her phone upon hearing the train announcer signifying her destination has arrived.

Sumire finally arrived at the door of her home. Her house was bordering the Tama river in a very lush area. It wasn’t really a big house, consisting of only two floors, but it was still wide enough to contain four people. It seemed to be maintained relatively well, giving the impression that the building was barely two months old based on the vibrant red and violent colouring along its walls. 

She entered her home, noticing her parents were sitting down on a nearby couch as they looked at the door in shock.

“...Sumire?” Akane asked, her eyes wide.

“Y-Yes? What is it, Mom…?”

“Please, come over here.” Shinichi called her to the couch, gesturing to her to sit in between them.

“Okay…” Sumire dropped her bag nearby on the floor and shyly walked towards the couch, sitting down in between them. Her dad put his hand on her hair, slowly ruffling it while her mom held her hand. 

‘W-What did I do…? Did I do something wrong…?’ Sumire thought to herself, with a slight blush on her face from the attention she was getting.

“Sumire, my dear, how are you feeling?” Akane asked, worry on her face.

“Um… I-I’m feeling fine… I-Is something wrong?”

Shinichi and Akane looked at each other for a few moments. They turned back to her shortly after, concern evident in their faces.

“We got a call from Doctor Maruki… He told us how the counselling session went, so we were just making sure nothing is wrong... ”

“R-Really, I’m fine!” Sumire said, smiling at both of them. “I-In fact, Doctor Maruki helped me feel much better than when I first arrived!”

“...I see. Well, we’ll be eating dinner soon. We just wanted to make sure, sorry dear.” Akane said, pinching Sumire’s cheek which caused her to wince a bit, making her smile.

“O-Okay…” Sumire got up once her dad finished ruffling her hair. She grabbed her bag and immediately made her way upstairs into her room, where she noticed something… weird… 

‘The colour is different from the one I remember… A-And I don’t remember some of those objects... What’s going on…?’ Sumire looked around a bit concerned. She tried to remember, but nothing came to her mind.

‘I-I’m probably just tired, that has to be it!’ Sumire sighed, changing out of her clothes and into her houseware. A strange sensation overtook her followed by nausea after she finished changing her clothes. ‘Huh… maybe I am really exhausted…’ She looked around for her phone, remembering that she did put it on her desk but couldn’t find it anywhere else. 

“Where is it…?” She looked at the drawer, finding her phone. She tried booting it up, but it barely managed to turn on. “What…? It wasn’t like this earlier though…” Sumire checked out the phone, not noticing anything particularly off with the phone itself. ‘Maybe it’s the battery…’ Sumire shrugged and went to charge up her phone before she headed downstairs. Both of her parents were already eating by the time she arrived.

“Sumire? What took you so long?” Akane asked, already visibly confused.

“U-Um… Nothing, sorry about that…” She adjusted her hair nervously, taking her seat next to her father. There was only soy milk soup for dinner, consisting of mixed ingredients such as green leaves, carrots, and noodles. Sumire started eating slowly, occasionally noticing that her parents looked at her while she focused on her food, making her feel uneasy.

“U-Um… Mom? Dad? What’s wrong…?”

“Your father and I were thinking of something, sweetie.” Akane gave her a tiny smile. “Could you cook dinner for us later, if you don’t mind?”

“Um…. Sure?” Sumire adjusted her glasses, smiling at them. “I’d love to!” 

“We’ll look forward to it then.” Shinichi chuckled for a little, patting Sumire on the back. “It’s getting a bit late, Sumire. Make sure to go to sleep after you’re done eating, okay?”

“R-Right! I will!” Sumire started eating her food faster, causing her mom and dad to stare at her in shock. 

“Sumire, slow down! Or you might choke on it!”

Sumire finished eating her food shortly after, as she smiled at her mom. “Sorry, Mom. I was just starving… Um, could I get more soup, please?”

“Of course, my little princess! Did you enjoy it? I wanted to try something new!” 

“Y-Yeah, I did! It was delicious!” She giggled a bit. Akane filled her bowl with more soup. She started digging in once again, this time at a slower pace. Dinner felt lively for Sumire, even though something about her parents still felt off to her. ‘Maybe they are just worried, that’s all…’ Sumire thought to herself. She got up from the table, smiling weakly at them. “Goodnight…”

“Goodnight, sweetie!” Both of them said, smiling at her. But those smiles… They felt fake for her for some reason while she was going upstairs... 

‘Something must be wrong… Something has to be-’ Suddenly, she got a rush of pain on her head as she stopped at the top of the stairs. “Ungh..!” She muttered out for a moment. With a worried face, she looked down the stairs. ‘It seems like they didn’t hear me…’ She decided to not to think about it for now as she made her way to her room, immediately collapsing on top of her bed.

* * *

‘I should get going… I don’t want to be late on my first day… As an Honours Student, no less…’ Begrudgingly placing her belongings in her bag, Sumire left her room and headed downstairs, seeing both of her parents at the table.

“Be careful on your way, Sumire!” Akane said, smiling at her.

“If anything goes wrong, give us a call, okay?”

“R-Right! I will!” She smiled back at them, leaving through the door. While she was closing the door however, she noticed that her parents looked… bothered by something. ‘I wonder if something’s wrong…’ Sumire thought to herself as she headed towards the station. The train was almost full by the time she got on the train, leaving her no choice but to stand. ‘Doesn’t matter… I don’t like sitting down too much anyway…’ Before long, the train started moving, heading into the direction of her school.

Unfortunately for her, it started to rain hard, forcing her to stop and find cover from the rain. ‘Great… I hope this doesn’t make me late to the school…’ Sumire thought to herself, looking around as the smell of the rain overtook the street. She noticed a boy with glasses and a blonde girl next to each other, under some cover but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space for her. ‘I’ll just have to use my bag then…’ Sumire sighed, holding her school bag above her in the hopes of blocking out some the raindrops as she rushed in the direction of the school. Thankfully, the school itself wasn’t far away, able to run inside as fast as her legs can carry her.

‘I-I hope it’s not too wet inside…’ Sumire opened up her bag, checking if any of her books got damaged from the water. Thankfully, they weren’t too wet and would quickly dry up with proper care. ‘Right! Gotta go to my class…’ Sumire headed down the hall, looking for 1-A. She quickly found it. She went in, noting that the classroom was already semi-filled. She noticed that one of the seats next to the window was empty, so she went to take her place.

“Hey look, isn’t that the Honours Student?”

“Yeah, isn’t her sister in a hospital or something? Do you think she was resp-”

“...I’m right here.” Sumire said, suddenly cutting them off as she sent them a glare. “If you’re going to talk about something sensitive about me, then don’t do it in such a way I can hear it.” Sumire clenched her first, angrily adjusting her hair as she turned away from them. She didn’t need to remember what had happened. 

The chattering students looked at each other, nodding at each other shakily before they turned away.

‘Kasumi…’ Sumire sighed, looking outside of the still ongoing rain. It was as if she was crying, with each raindrop hitting the ground perfectly audible to her. ‘What’s wrong with me…?’ Sumire quickly shook her head. She put out her books on the table and waiting for the teacher.

“By the way, have you heard of a transfer student? Apparently, he assaulted someone.”

“Wow, really? That’s horrible… How could the school admit someone like that in?”

“Will we be safe with him around? I mean, what if he snaps?”

“I sure hope so. Best not to get involved with him.”

‘Why do you care so much if he assaulted someone or not? It’s none of your idiots’ business…’ Sumire thought to herself, agitated as she annoyedly sighed.

Thankfully, the classes weren’t as grueling as everyone made it seem, with Sumire able to write her notes efficiently. It wasn’t all too bad, just some introductory algebra. Lunchbreak just started as Sumire headed for the cafeteria when she noticed someone walking in from the school gate. It was that same boy with the glasses in the morning...

“H-Huh?” She looked at him for a few moments. It didn’t take long for the boy to look back at her. She wanted to ask him, but… ‘...No, M-Maybe I shouldn’t ask…’ Sumire thought to herself as she left for the cafeteria and that boy headed on upstairs.

‘Why are the classes so boring…’ Sumire packed her belongings back into her school bag during which her phone buzzed. “Hm…?” Sumire tried booting it up to see what it was about, but the phone abruptly turned off on her. “Wha…” Sumire sighed. ‘I guess I need a new battery… or phone…’ She walked out of the classroom and headed for the exit. On the way out, her phone buzzed again, prompting her to pull it off to see what was up. She accidentally bumped into someone while staring at her phone, causing her to recoil back.

“I-I’m sorry!” She said, looking up to see the boy she bumped into turn around, realising it was the same boy from earlier.

“It’s okay.” He said, adjusting his glasses. He looked down and crouched to pick up Sumire’s phone, handing it back to her. “Here, you dropped this.”

“T-Thank you…” She kindly took it from him, nodding at him first before she left for the train station hastily. The phone finally turned on again, noticing a message from her dad.

_How was school, Sumire?_

_It was boring. I’m coming home now._

_Be careful on your way._

_I will! Love you, Dad._

_Love you too, Sumire._

She closed up the phone with a smile, heading towards the train station.

  
  


* * *

“Hey, isn’t that her?”

“Yeah, I am so jealous of her.. She has a really slim body..”

‘I’m right here…’ Sumire sighed, shaking her head as she waited on the train platform. A few moments later, the train arrived and she got aboard. Surprisingly, she managed to find an empty seat, keeping her head down as she waited for the time to pass. It didn’t take long for her to notice that an old lady was standing in front of her when she decided to look up for a moment.

“P-Please, take my seat.” Sumire said, standing up. “My station’s coming up.”

“Are ya sure? Then…” 

Sumire moved to let the old lady sit down. Just as she was moved over, another man quickly took over her spot. Sumire seemed surprised for a moment, but she promptly frowned up at the man. 

“Um… Excuse me, that seat was for the old lady, not you…”

The man looked up for a moment before he quickly seemingly fell asleep. Although Sumire was sure that wasn’t the case. 

“Excuse me.” She said, raising her voice a bit more as the man finally woke up.

“What? What do you want?”

“T-That seat wasn’t for… It was for h-her...” She pointed to the old lady standing next to her

“Don’t care.” He said, quickly falling ‘asleep’ again.

Sumire looked down, feeling sad. ‘Am I really this powerless…?’ She thought to herself. She noticed a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to look over her shoulder 

“Do you want me to help?”

“W-Wait, it’s you again…” Sumire adjusted her hair, nodding. “I-If you’d be so kind.” She smiled a bit. He nodded, firmly grabbing the man’s shoulder, causing him to wake up again.

“Do you want to have some talk about manners if you still don’t want to get up?”

The way he said it was filled with venom, it sent shivers down Sumire’s spine as her eyes widened. The man looked like he was going to scream as loud as he could as he got up and tried his best to run away from them, causing a bit of a commotion on the crowded train.

‘W-Wow…’ Sumire thought to herself. She turned to the old lady and the boy.

“Thank you, dear. Though you didn’t have to.” The old lady said to the boy, as she went to sit down. 

Sumire still looked a bit shocked as she was still processing what just happened. The train announcer spoke up, indicating she arrived at her destination. The boy went to step out of the train amongst the crowd. 

‘W-Wait, I have to thank him too…!’ Sumire immediately rushed out, looking for him desperately. She managed to find him, running up to him as she was almost out of breath. “U-Um… Excuse me…”

The boy turned around, looking at her.

“T-Thank you for helping me!” She smiled, nodding at him.

“You mean the thing from earlier?” She nodded, smirking at her. “Oh, you were doing just fine. I just gave him a little push, that’s all.”

“Um…” She fidgeted a bit. “...You’re a second-year at Shujin, right?” She studied the pin on his uniform. “I-I’m a first-year there, myself actually…” She looked up at him again. “I-I was going to thank you on the train, but I was still in shock.. Um, e-excuse me, Senpai, but I have to get going.” 

She gave him a bow and quickly made her way out of the station and to the school.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I unfortunately have university coming up so I might not be able to write for this fic and my other fic as much, but I'll still try my best to keep it up neverthless. Thank you chriscruise03, for beta'ing for me!


End file.
